“Career oriented women feel more respected at home and say their spouses are more helpful” – so state the results of a national survey of more than 4,600 men and women. The study, What Moms Think: Career Versus Paycheck, was spearheaded by Working Mother Media with sponsors Ernst & Young, IBM, and Procter & Gamble.

Comments Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, “The study, which was designed to focus attention on work-life and the advancement of women, reveals previously unknown attitudes and ideas about how women feel about their careers, men’s views of working mothers, workplace flexibil¬ity, the current state of gender roles, and what we all want to get out of work.”

Surprising results from the study include:

Women who identify with having a career report they are more satisfied and feel more positive in every area of work and life, versus women who state they merely have a job

Career-oriented working mothers are more satisfied with the opportunities available to develop their skills, the level of respect they receive at work, and their manager’s support in meeting demands from family and home

Career-oriented women were more likely to report they felt healthy, that their life was in balance, and that their work fulfilled a higher purpose than “just making money”

The bad news is career-oriented mothers were more likely to feel like they could not get away from work and were more likely to believe managers and co-workers questioned their work commitment

Where do men stand when it comes to career-oriented women? According to the study, working fathers had favorable impressions of working mothers. However, men without children tended to rate working mothers as less committed to career advancement, less willing to take on additional work, and less committed to job responsibilities than working women with no children. Sadly, women without children also tended to have harsher views of working mothers.

What does this mean for employers? The study further confirms the connection between employee attitudes and business success. Working Mother Media believes it is critical that employers help female employees feel that their work is more than just a job:

Female employees need to be able to see their career opportunities with the company as well as opportunities to grow and develop their skills and abilities

They need management support to balance work and family demands

They need a sense that their work fulfills higher purposes

They need management to focus attention on eliminating bias towards working mothers

Eliminating bias against working mothers is not an easy task, by any means. However, the study suggests this process can be helped by directing diversity and inclusiveness training towards childless men and women. Training could “include specific reference to unintended biases people without children may hold” and provide exposure to working mothers as role models, women who are committed to both their careers and their families.

Are you a working mother who has had to deal with bias in your career? What have you done to overcome this issue? Share your thoughts in the “Comments” section below as we’d love to hear ideas that can help other women in similar situations.